SUNY Potdam
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SUNY Potsdam students explore Eastern Europe & present academic papers
06.18.09
Nine SUNY Potsdam students recently spent two weeks learning about global business practices as they explored Ukraine and Austria and had the opportunity to meet with academics and businesspeople at the top of their game.
Led by Associate Professor of Business Administration Dr. Greg Gardner, who teaches the Eastern European Business course, several students presented research papers at a business economics conference at Kherson State University, where they were guests and mingled with students from the university who also served as translators.
“The conference was a great experience,” said senior business administration major Laura Duell of Sackets Harbor. “It was very educational to hear other presentations and get professional experience discussing economics.”
“I didn’t present, but being at the conference gave me yet another experience of Ukrainian culture,” said senior music business and music performance major Carine Kowalik of Wantagh. “Classroom protocol was much different, and the loose, relaxed attitude of the students and keynote speakers caught me slightly off guard. Interestingly though, I think this attitude was a reflection of a much larger Ukrainian sentiment of aloofness that I sensed many people had in general to all aspects of life.”
The students’ papers were peer reviewed and accepted for publication in the conference journal.
The American and Ukrainian students became very close and learned a great deal from each other. Dr. Gardner noted how many of the American students commented on the friendliness they experienced.
“My favorite part of the trip was spending time with the students of Kherson State University,” said senior business administration and psychology major Johan V. Kaskela of Massena. “I found that it was good to build connections with foreign students because they will potentially be the future business and political leaders of the country. They also became good friends with whom we have successfully made means of contact to keep in touch.”
The group visited Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine, where they had briefings on Ukraine and eastern European business and political conditions by the economics and public affairs
staffs at the U.S. embassy and officials at SigmaBleyser, the largest private equity investment firm in Ukraine.
“This experience gave us an opportunity to apply our knowledge from the classroom to the real world, which enabled us to research and intelligently discuss real-world issues and discuss legitimate solutions to actual problems with government officials and business professionals,” noted Kaskela.
After Kyiv, students went to Odessa for a little culture and flew to Vienna, where in addition to sightseeing, they pondered how Vienna has been the economic gateway to Eastern Europe for hundreds of years.
While some students were surprised by the food (they use a lot of dill) or the bathrooms facilities (there are flat toilets in the floor) or the salaries (a full professor makes about $300 a month) or the music (American pop music is very popular), others saw deeper fundamental differences.
“The difference in general attitudes towards the Ukrainian government from general attitudes of Americans towards the American government was the biggest surprise for me. For many reasons, perhaps most specifically lack of serious law enforcement, Ukrainians generally seem to take their laws and government much less seriously than Americans do with their respective government,” said Kowalik.
Junior music business and music performance major Nikki Langhorne of Medford noted the impact the trip had on her.
“Eastern Europe is a region that is not commonly visited by Americans. I thought it would be a good life experience, and it would open my eyes to a different culture and increase my global awareness,” she said. “Traveling to Ukraine has been a life-changing experience that I will never forget. The experience has had a profound impact on me, and has changed me as a person.”
Kowalik agrees. “The experience was unlike any other I've had in my life. I quite honestly felt as if I learned more in the two weeks I was away than I learned in any semester- long class I’ve ever taken. This was partially due to the guidance of Dr. Gardner, but also to the experiential, hands-on nature of the class and the complete immersion into a totally new and different world,” she said.
Dr. Gardner organized the trip around places and people he encountered during his Fulbright Teaching Fellowship in Ukraine during the 2007-2008 academic year.
“The trip was a huge success,” said Dr. Gardner, who taught classes in Western business practices and approaches and conducted research in economic development at Kherson. He also lectured at the Small Business Center at Kherson University about entrepreneurship.
“The students were very well prepared in business and economics. They are familiar with global issues and are strong critical thinkers. I got several compliments on them,” Dr. Gardner noted.
In an effort to further nurture the relationships SUNY Potsdam has with Ukraine, Dr. Gardner is looking into hosting an international conference here next year for students and faculty.